lar0516

After I deleted the old sitemap files on the server side some of my latest post did show up in a google search, but there was no reason why some showed up and some still do not show up. My problem started in early Sept. after a WordPress update and I have tried so many different things to fix it and nothing has really helped much. My google traffic has really suffered since last fall. My older post prior to Sept. show up fine just like they should but any post after Sept. do not show up with the postname except for a few. Why some show up as website/postname and others are listed as website/category without the postname I have no idea. When I do a site:website test in google my website pages and even my more recent post show up correct, but not in a google search. I am starting to think it is not on my end but in google for some unknown reason. There is a new google algorithem coming this month and I think a WordPress update coming this month. Maybe the problem go away after that!

BigFeat, I thought I had fixed this problem and there may have been some improvement but I still do have this problem where my post are not showing up in a Google search with the postname in the url. I can sometimes find my post but it is listed with just the website name/category name and not the post name in the url. Curious if you are using some of the same Plugins from my list I provided? It may be a plugin conflict but then why does it just happen in Google and not Bing. I just have run out of ideas on what to do to fix this problem. I don’t want to mess with my Bing traffic for the sake of Google. I wish someone could help us and figure out why the permalink postname does not show up in a Google search.

I think I have fixed my problem. I went to my server and was looking around at the files. There were some old files left over from a sitemap plugin I no longer use. I deleted these files and now my post are showing back up in a google search with the url address correct using the postname. The old file sitemap.xml.gz was the problem on the server side. Just wanted to let you know in case someone else ever has this same problem. Now I hope I start seeing google traffic again.

If I were to change from Bluehost to Hostgator would that possibly correct the problem? If it was due to a messed up file that is on the server and not in WordPress itself?

None of my latest post from the last few months are showing up in the custom search. Just older post from before when this problem started. It is like Google can’t find my latest post using the website name/post name.
I find my most recent post included on older posts that do show up in a google search but that is because of the widgets on the homepage and the search grabs the keywords from the lastest post widget.

I thought it might be a conflict between Google XML Sitemap and WordPress SEO but changing to another sitemap plugin gives me errors with the sitemap in WebMaster tools and I lose all traffic. I do not have any of the WordPress SEO setting for sitemap checked nor in the WordPress SEO permalink settings. If I get rid of WordPress SEO plugin I lose all my SEO.

This is how they show up in search engines:
Bing (perfect on page 4)
Raleigh Antiques Extravaganza 2014 at NC State …
https://www.travelnc.org/raleigh-antiques-extravaganza-2014-nc-state…

Google (no postname and on page 22)
NC Happenings – North Carolina Travel Guide and Events
https://www.travelnc.org/nchappenings/

I use Google webmaster tools but there are not errors except some 404 errors to when I use to use tags and got rid of the tags. I have a sitemap and webmaster tools sees it (no errors and the live robots.txt generated fine.
Theme is iTek.
Plugins are Ad Inserter
Google Maps Widget
Google XML Sitemaps
HTML Page Sitemap
Jetpack by WordPress.com
MapPress Easy Google Maps
NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster
Simple Image Widget
Social Media Feather
Social Media Widget by Acurax
TinyMCE Advanced
WordPress Backup to Dropbox
WordPress SEO
WP-SpamShield
WPtouch Mobile Plugin

Thanks for your help.